Main menu

What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday I was blogging away as usual. Today I have blogged away for a year!

I want to thank everyone who has helped me along the way as I learned to put my thoughts and experiences down in Cyberspace. There are kindred souls with like-interests that we share, and fascinating people with interests that I can appreciate from afar.

The most precious gift that I have received this past year is that my world has expanded and introduced me to a number of people who I never would have been in contact with if it was not for this WordPress opportunity.

The world-wide expansion started when I reached out and made a comment on someone’s blog. This lead me to respond to the reply and a conversation was born. I made a leap of faith and entered a photo in a Weekly Photo Challenge and then it was off to the races, as I fell in with a group of photographers (GOOD photographers) and their photos inspired me to do better.

One of my posts was chosen to be Freshly Pressed in August and my location in Cyberspace was suddenly more popular. This accolade motivated me to do more, but I was unsure how to continue and that is when I stumbled upon the NaNoWriMo Challenge (National Novel Writing Month) in November. The goal was to write 50,000 words in 30 days, no editing. I thought that I had a novel to write but what I had was more like the phone book: lots of characters, no plot.

I changed gears and wrote a memoir instead. The idea was to cover the years 1968 to the Present, telling the story of how I got into the Electrical Trade in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla and ended up on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA. I ended up writing the story of my first seven months in the Trade, and that was only because I skipped ahead three months at the end of the challenge.

The NaNoWriMo Challenge taught me what it means to ‘go deep’. I have discovered that I have a place inside me where I can go and access memories, emotions and feelings — everything that I have spent a lifetime stuffing away and ignoring. The way to unlock that door is to use the Key of Willingness.

“Where there is a Will, there’s a Way” has never had more meaning to me than it does today. I am grateful to everyone for the lessons, support and inspiration over this past year and I eagerly look forward to the future.

Oh, it is great to hear that you enjoyed it. Yes, there is a second book, semi-complete, all but for procrastination and a sliver of hope there would be enough momentum with Summoning the Strength by now to generate interest from a publisher. Serious editing/polishing will begin after the first of the year, and with any luck, it will be released early 2013.